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Fresh water: Canada’s most important natural resource

The current issue of Policy Options (July-August 2009) is devoted to Canada’s water challenges. I’ll feature highlights from it in upcoming blogs.

• Pollster Nik Nanos reports that Canadians, by an overwhelming margin, view fresh water as the most important natural resource for Canada’s future. A recent Nanos Research poll revealed that 61.6 percent of the 1001 Canadians polled chose fresh water as the most important natural resource. In contrast, 21.7 percent chose oil and gas, 11.2 percent chose forestry, and 3.8 percent chose the fisheries. Even in the West, where oil and gas are so central to the economy, water was seen as the most important natural resource by 60.9 percent of those polled.